"Riot" at Erskine College

[Marrow Man]

No, not really a riot, but there was a demonstration of sorts at Erskine College very recent. Those who keep up with ARPTalk know there have been some concerns over Erskine College, and these will hopefully be resolved at General Synod this year. You can see the results of the demonstration by going to the latest ARPTalk and downloading the issue, or just by clicking on the posted photographs.

Please pray for the our presbyters and they gather this June and make some very serious decisions about what to do with this festering problem in our denomination's college.

 

[Josiah]

Thank you Tim for sharing this. Is ETS and Erskine College independant of the synod?

 

[Marrow Man]

No, neither is. They are both "governed," so to speak, by the Erskine Board. The Board is supposed to function as a servant of General Synod. The problem, I think, is that the college might think it is independent of General Synod.

If you go to the ARPTalk website and click on the last full issue (I forget the number), there is a chronology of the EC controversy, and it discusses the "independency" aspect.

 

[Clay7926]

Thanks for sharing this. A young lady from my old church is about to graduate from Erskine, and from a talk I had with her, she was very disappointed with Erskine and the direction it is going in.

I will be praying.

 

[Marrow Man]

I think part of the problem is that EC fancies itself as another Furman, and it is attempting to follow in Furman's ungodly footsteps.

 

[Josiah]

No, neither is. They are both "governed," so to speak, by the Erskine Board. The Board is supposed to function as a servant of General Synod. The problem, I think, is that the college might think it is independent of General Synod.

If you go to the ARPTalk website and click on the last full issue (I forget the number), there is a chronology of the EC controversy, and it discusses the "independency" aspect.

Thank you for answering my question. After reading the last issue of ARP Talk it left me with a strong impression that EC and ETS seem to believe themselves to be independant. Do you think, given the timeline of synod actions provided in the latest ARP Talk, that the next ARP Synod will take a stronger more decisive step in reigning some of these issues and if so what will they do? JW

 

[Marrow Man]

Most likely there will be some sort of committee formed to recommend actions to GS. Then it will drag out another year. Of course, most of the folks in the ARP are pretty much fed up by this time. Someone has suggested that the entire Board needs to be disbanded, a new composition devised, and new Board members appointed. I don't see that happening, but it is an interesting suggestion. Part of the problem is that there are folks on the Erskine Board who do not need to be on the Board, In my humble opinion.

BTW, the Seminary cleaned up a great deal of its dirty laundry a few decades back. It has more or less towed the ARP line in recent years. The one bad spot is the hiring of a neo-Bartian prof, but even that is progress (replacing a Bartian with a neo-Bartian).

 

[wildboarARP]

Greetings all,

Marrow Man, I wanted to thank you for putting up a post about the "riot". I am a student at Erskine College and am deeply grieved by the situation we are currently in. The college is, in my theological opinion, nominally Christian at best(we do have some godly Christians at Erskine, it is just that we are in the minority as far as faculty goes). We have systemic problems with secularism and the more people hear about these issue the better. I was there when the "riot" took place and also when the police showed up and it is very discouraging for some of us students. I would ask that everyone lift up Erskine in prayer to the Lord, and especially be in prayer for the ARP Synod this year.

Scott Cook, Erskine College Sophomore

 

[sastark]

Greetings all,

Marrow Man, I wanted to thank you for putting up a post about the "riot". I am a student at Erskine College and am deeply grieved by the situation we are currently in. The college is, in my theological opinion, nominally Christian at best(we do have some godly Christians at Erskine, it is just that we are in the minority as far as faculty goes). We have systemic problems with secularism and the more people hear about these issue the better. I was there when the "riot" took place and also when the police showed up and it is very discouraging for some of us students. I would ask that everyone lift up Erskine in prayer to the Lord, and especially be in prayer for the ARP Synod this year.

Scott Cook, Erskine College Sophomore

Scott,

Thanks for your post. Please know that there are those in the ARP who support you and fellow students desiring a consistent Christian worldview being taught a Erskine. I have already e-mailed my Session about these issues at the college to bring it to their attention. You all are in my prayers! Fight the good fight!

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

 

[Marrow Man]

I have been asked several times, both here and in private, if any action was planning to be taken against Erskine College at General Synod. I had forgotten that First Presbytery has a memorial (same as an overture) that is being presented at GS. This action took place at the spring meeting of the presbytery.

[First Presbytery] sent a motion to the General Synod asking the Moderator to form a special commission to investigate whether the oversight exercised by the Board of Trustees and Administration of Erskine College and Seminary is in faithful accordance with the Standards of the ARP Church and the Synod’s previously issued directives.

It will be more powerful than a committee (a commission is empowered to take certain actions given to it by the court), but to give a simple answer, if this passes, yes, something will be done about EC (and ETS).

 

[sastark]

Just found out about this web site: SAFE

Looks interesting.

 

[MrMerlin777]

Just found out about this web site: SAFE

Looks interesting.

Indeed.

 

[ww]

Can anyone tell me how Erskine College and Grove City College compare with one another especially as it relates to the current controversy? Growing up 20 minutes from Grove City I always considered it "secular" in a sense although it had Presbyterian ties but remember this is from someone who was a Fundamentalist at the time and ended up at BJU. I really don't have a strong understanding of college outside of those lenses as an alumnus of BJU.

 

[PresbyDane]

 

[TimV]

Seth, I went to that website, and while I have no doubt that when people like those that have posted here express these sorts of concerns there's bound to be legitimate concern, those student letters that I went through don't really have much in the way of specific grievances.

Publishing a dozen or so letters from kids which don't seem to deal much with anything besides "attitudes" "directions" "rumors" etc... seems childish and typically studentish.

If there's something wrong, they should define the problem clearly and systematically, listing specific examples of where the faculty is deviating from their standards.

As it is, if it weren't for the fact of the quality of persons on this thread who have expressed concerns for the direction of this college, I'd personally just have written the fracas off to a bunch of scatterbrained kids. Really, to publish a public demand for authorities to "investigate rumors"?

 

[sastark]

Tim,

Apparently I failed to scroll down enough to see those letters you mentioned. I'll go and read them now.

I do know, however vague the students on that website may be, the problems at Erskine are real and have been ongoing for several years (decades?) as documented by Dr. Rev. Charles Wilson, a pastor in the ARP, here: ARPTalk - Home.

It seems that the students are simply catching on to an old problem at Erskine, which to me is encouraging, even if they aren't as exact in their criticisms as they could be.